Mistaken
by IndigoGreen
Summary: Lily and James' first year at Hogwarts. What will happen after Lily is mistaken by Narcissa and Andromeda for a Prewett?


**Disclaimer:** I do not own _anything_ but the plot, and Lily's house and street (not Spinners End, or Woking, or England, just the street, cause I made it up.

**Prologue**

Lily huffed. She had been trying to read, albeit futilely, for at least 20 minutes now. The problem was the rather distracting noise issuing from Petunia's room. Petunia, of course, called this noise "music". Lily obviously didn't, though; in her opinion, it sounded like some poor half dead cats having their tails put through a wringer. Lily sat up, then turned the book over, careful to hold it on the right page, and placed it on her pillow. She huffed again, then stood, pulled the wrinkles out of her clothes and walked the few steps to Petunia's room. She knocked, and waited for a few moments until finally the door was opened to reveal her sister.

"Hey Tunie, can you _please_ turn that down? You know I can hear it as well as you can even with the doors shut." Petunia looked a little sulky, but she turned and disappeared for a moment. Finally the noise was lowered, however minutely. Petunia reappeared, glaring.

"Thanks, Tunie." Lily turned and walked back into her own room, closing the door behind her.

Re-entering the room, Lily made for her bed before stopping to listen again. She could still vaguely hear Petunia's music, but it was joined by another, closer noise. _*tap tap* *tap tap tap* *tap*_, Lily glanced out the window; the apparent source of the noise. She was rather surprised to see an owl wildly flapping it's wings and tapping it's beak on the glass. Shocked, she hurried over to lift the latch and flung the window open to allow the owl access. Once inside the owl perched itself on the window sill and fluffed itself rather importantly. It then stuck out it's leg. Lily looked at the tawny bird, still rather amazed at its sudden appearance. Then she noticed the letter attached to its ankle. It had a wax seal holding it closed with some kind of crest stamped onto it. She untied it quickly and turned it over.

_Miss L. Evans  
2__nd__ Bedroom__  
19 Victoria Avenue__  
Woking  
Surrey_

It was addressed to her, no doubt about it, but _who_ would send her a letter with an owl? Curious, she opened it.

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY  
__Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore  
__(Order if Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,  
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

_Dear Miss Evans,  
We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.  
Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.  
Yours sincerely,_

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Lily was fairly stunned. Severus had been telling her about this 'Hogwarts' the other day, but she hadn't believed so much as a word of it. The 31st of July was a full month and a half away, but it wouldn't be polite to make them wait too long for a reply. She put the letter on her desk and thanked the owl. It hooted, ruffled up it's feathers once more, then turned and flew off into the night sky. Lily watched it until it was just a tiny greyish spec, then closed the window, drew the curtains and went to get ready for bed.

* * *

Lily awoke early the next morning. Climbing out of bed, she threw open the curtains to allow the sunlight into the room. Crossing to the dresser she pulled out a pair of loose jeans, a top and some clean under things. She then went to take a shower, knowing that Petunia wouldn't be up for another hour or two.

After her shower Lily went downstairs to the kitchen.

"'Morning, Mum." Lily said. Mrs. Evans McCullough looked up and smiled. Lily looked like a carbon copy of Mrs Evans McCullough, excepting her mother's blonde hair. It had long since been decided that Lily's flaming shade must have been a fluke, as she was the only one in the family who had inherited it.

"Good Morning, Lily. Are you going to play with Severus this morning?"

"Yep, we're going to the park." Lily replied, grabbing the cereal from the pantry. When she finished eating she washed up her bowl and put it on the sink to dry, then ran out the front door and down the street to the small football ground there. There was a small playground on the other side of the pitch, under some thick evergreen trees. She walked over to the swings, and sat in one of them waiting, and wandering what she should say.

When Severus finally entered the pitch he looked a breathless, his pallid skin slightly pink, as though he had been running a short time before. He walked up to the swing set and sat in the one next to her.

"Hey Lily." He said.

"Hey Sev." She decided to get it out quickly. "You remember how I didn't believe you about Hogwarts?" She asked. "Well I do now." Severus looked up.

"Huh?" He asked, confused.

"I got my letter yesterday." She replied. Realisation dawned on his face, which was slowly replaced by a smile.

"Oh, well that's great then. I knew you would, you know." He paused. "I got mine too."

* * *

It was well past lunchtime when Lily got home again. Her mother was hardly surprised; her youngest daughter always got carried away when she was playing with the boy from Spinners End.

"Lily, we had sandwiches for lunch. You can help yourself, you know where everything is." Mrs Evans McCullough said. Lily nodded and ran upstairs to get the letter. She went back downstairs, the letter in her pocket, and started preparing her lunch.

"Ah, Mum? Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, ask away." Her mother replied.

"Do I have to go to Tunie's School next year?"

"Of course, where else are you going to go?"

"Well, you see– um, wellIgotthisletterthatsaidIhaveaplaceattheirschoolandIreallywannago." She paused, drew in a long breath, and finished her spiel. "Can I go, please?" Her mother looked at her strangely, only half catching what she had said.

"Slow down, what's this about you going somewhere else?" Mrs Evans McCullough asked.

"Here." Lily pulled the letter out of her pocket and passed it quickly to her mother. Mrs Evans McCullough opened it and read the letter, her eyes bulging slightly as she read it. Stunned, she stared at the letter for a moment then read it again, slower this time, just to make sure she read it right. "Hogwarts... _Witchcraft and Wizardry_?... accepted.. hmm..." She mumbled. "This seems mighty bizarre Lily. Are you sure that someone isn't playing a joke on you?"

"Yes Mum. Sev got a letter too, and his Mum's a witch." Mrs Evans McCullough was a little surprised by this, but none the less sceptical.

"Really? She told you that?" She asked, passing the letter back to her daughter, who placed it in her pocket.

"No, that's what Sev told me, but it's true. I know it is." Lily stated.

"Okay, Lily. Your father and I will think about it, but we're not saying yes at this point in time." Lily smiled.

"Okay, Mum."

Lily decided to try and read her book while Petunia was out. A couple of hours later she was disrupted by a shriek coming from downstairs. Jumping up, she went to see what the fuss was all about. Apparently Petunia had gotten home from her shopping trip and was sitting in the lounge reading one of her magazines when she heard some tapping from the window. Looking up, she had noticed an owl trying, unsuccessfully, to get through the window. Obviously, it had been her who had shrieked. Lily let the owl in, and called her mother. Petunia had moved further down the couch, away from the window, by the time Mrs Evans McCullough walked in.

"What is going on, Lily?" She asked.

"An owl scared Tunie a bit. It's alright now but I think this is for you." She untied the letter from the owl's ankle and gave it to her mother.

Mrs McCullough was a little surprised, but appeared to be getting a little more used to the idea that her daughter was a witch. She opened the letter, and skimmed it quickly.

"A representative from this, err–" She looked at the letter. "Hogwarts, is supposed to be coming here a week from tomorrow. Something about introducing us to their world?" Lily smiled at this announcement. She couldn't wait to see this representative; no doubt it would be interesting.

"What are you talking about?" Petunia spoke up from her corner.

"Lily has been offered a place at a rather… unusual school."

"So she's a freak?" Petunia asked, glancing warily toward Lily.

"No she's not; don't call your sister that." Mrs Evans McCullough said, turning to the owl. "Wait there a second, I'll write back." She turned and left the room, taking her letter with her. Lily pulled out her own letter and passed it to Petunia. Petunia read it over quickly, jaw dropping.

"No fair! Why don't I get a letter like that? I want to go, too."

"I don't know, Tunie. It would be so cool if we could go together. Maybe you could write to them? If you write it now then we can send it with Mum's reply." Petunia nodded, and left the room, presumably to find something to write on, and with. Lily turned to the owl. It's face and chest were white, its back a mixture of browns. A barn owl, Lily supposed. She didn't know much about owls, except that she did this particular sub-species for a school project about a year ago. What she did know, however, is that they were nocturnal, and certainly didn't carry letters, at least, not that she'd ever heard of.

"You're a pretty bird, aren't you?" She cooed at it. "Why are you delivering letters for these 'wizards'? Hmm? That's not normal owl behaviour is it?" The owl nipped her finger, looking at her as though she had said something entirely bizarre. "Ow!" She cried. "I suppose it's normal, for you, at least." She glared at the bird then turned to sit on the couch. A couple of minutes later Mrs Evans McCullough and Petunia returned to the room, each with a letter in their hands. Lily took the letters and secured them to the owl's ankle.

"You know where you're going don't you?" She asked. In response the owl glared at her, then turned and took off into the sky. Petunia sat down and picked up her magazine.

"That was weird."

**Author's Note:** Hey! This is my first fic, and I'm not entirely sure what to think of it. Tell me what you think I should call it (cause the name, obviously, is a bit - shall we say... boring?), and if you catch any mistakes, or if something doesn't make sense, please let me know.


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